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Past Gas

5: Mid Night Club Pt. 1 - The Birth of Japanese Underground Street Racing

Past Gas

Donut Media

Leisure, Comedy, History, Automotive

4.97.2K Ratings

🗓️ 14 October 2019

⏱️ 45 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In part one of a two-part series, James and Nolan explain the origins of the Mid Night Club, an underground Japanese race team with top-secret members that raced around the streets of Japan from 1982 to 1999, officially speaking.

Follow James on IG and Twitter @jamespumphrey

Follow Nolan on IG and Twitter @nolanjsykes

Follow Donut @donutmedia, and subscribe to our Youtube and Facebook channels! 

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Hey, how you doing everybody? My name is Nolan. I'm from the Past Gas Podcast by Donut Media. We are an automotive history show.

0:08.0

This week we're talking about a man named Willie T. Ribs. After blowing three engines, Willie T. Ribs was about to give up on his dream of running in the Indy 500.

0:18.0

With only hours left to get into the race. His team disassembled the engine, assessed the situation, put the engine back together and tried for a fourth time.

0:27.0

And you know what? They succeeded. That was the day Willie became part of racing and more importantly American history.

0:34.0

But why did it take so long for Willie to get the start he deserved? Where did he get his brash attitude? And how did that affect his career?

0:41.0

And how did he finally become the first African American driver to race in the Indy 500?

0:46.0

Today on Past Gas, we take a look at the legend of both racing and civil rights, Willie T. Ribs.

0:52.0

You can find Past Gas wherever you get your podcasts, Past Gas, check it out.

1:05.0

Welcome back to the Past Gas Podcast. From Donut Media, I'm your host James Pumphrey.

1:10.0

And I am Nolan Sykes. Today we have...

1:14.0

I'm excited about this. This is a good one. This is like one of the coolest car things ever.

1:21.0

We have a very... It's so secretive.

1:23.0

Topic for you guys today. We are talking about a racing group known as the Midnight Club.

1:31.0

The Midnight Club. Yes. The fastest racing team, fastest street racing team in Japan.

1:38.0

You got comic book made after them. Yeah. Thanks to an in-depth investigation by our wonderful writer Joseph.

1:44.0

Thank you Joseph. We're able to bring you the truth about the Midnight Club.

1:48.0

It's worth pointing out that most of the articles you find on the Midnight Club are based on the Wikipedia article.

1:55.0

That's it. That's journalism, man. Yeah.

1:57.0

Unfortunately for the vast majority of them, the information on the Wikipedia page has been purposely crafted to mislead people to protect the real members identities.

2:07.0

Oh my god, they're the Illuminati. It's insane. That means a large amount of what people think they know about the club is actually wrong, deliberately so.

2:16.0

But for what not? Because we're super excited to share the real story behind the Midnight Club.

2:23.0

This will be a two-part series, okay? So stick around next week for part two. Very special surprise in there.

...

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